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Saturday, December 29, 2012

LLPT's Best of 2012

Hello!! As the new year approaches, lots of us blogger types are doing Best Of posts or polls. Here's my offering. I present to you Liesl Loves Pretty Things' favorites of the past year, in chronological (I think, lol) order. Enjoy! ;)

Julep's Resort Collection and January Maven box

Julep's collection of shimmering pearls and foils amidst bright, saturated cremes was exciting, surprising, and sheer genius for the coldest and dreariest of months. When the Maven boxes were announced it was hard to choose among the five. I kept with my American Beauty box, and these are the two I received-- Anne, the ultraviolet creme, and Maria, the rose gold foil. I'd later receive Maya as a gift from the lovely Candice at Mommy Does Her Nails... but more on that later.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Fan Collection

Cuprum

You don't have to be a scientist to appreciate the coolness behind this creation-- a blue inspired by the reaction that occurs when ammonia meets copper. This polish is a true work of polish art. The energy surrounding it is fantastic and though it is notoriously difficult to capture on camera, it is an absolute pleasure and beauty to wear and officially made me a ReBeL.

OPI NYC Ballet Collection

Yes, this one made my short list. Shocker! I've not felt it necessary to own a whole collection before or since this one. The collection contains five absolutely gorgeous pale jellies, each with a distinctly different feel-- from the pristine milky white Don't Touch My Tutu (thumb, top left photo) to the macabre My Pointe Exactly (ring, top and bottom left)-- and one beautiful, subtle, and versatile glitter. My favorites of my favorite are the ones that exude health-- the natural nude of Barre My Soul (top right) and the tantalizing peachy pink of You Callin' Me A Lyre? (bottom right). They are completely forgiven their terrible names.

Butter London Lippies

Long-lasting, gorgeously pigmented lipglosses that match my favorite polish colors? Um, yes, please! I fell in love with the lips and tips idea when these first arrived on the scene this spring, and since then they've helped me become bolder in my makeup choices. All I need's that clear lipliner to keep them from getting all over my face and I'll be in lippy heaven.

BB Creams

I told you all about L'Oreal's bb cream here sometime this summer and I thought it was the be-all, end all of skincare. The Garnier is so far superior that I doubt I'll use the L'Oreal again. Experiment and find what works best for you. Both are light and moisturizing, provide adequate coverage, even skin tone, and don't look or feel anything like traditional foundation, or mineral makeup, of which I'd been a devotee for years. These bb creams kind of stormed the scene here in the US and though the word is they're nothing like their Asian counterparts, I hope they're here to stay.

NARS Storm Bird

I've had a small obsession with grey in fashion for the past couple years, and as soon as the first swatches of NARS Storm Bird came out, I knew it must be mine. The glossy, sophisticated shade of blue tinged dark grey didn't disappoint, and kickstarted my love affair with all things NARS. More on that later.

The Many Iterations of Chanel Peridot

I mean, come on.
I know some of you are sick and tired of it, but every major polish company who didn't put out a Peridot dupe this year could have and I would have still salivated over each and every swatch. I picked up China Glaze's dupe, Rare and Radiant; bonus points for being named for a line in The Raven. Extra bonus points for being part of a collection containing excellent dupes of Deborah Lippmann's Mirrored Chromes. Thanks, ChG, for keeping my wallet happy and my nails pretty! <3

Zoya FeiFei

Zoya's fall collections were outstanding in my book, all three of them, Diva, Designer, and Gloss. FeiFei was the standout of the whole lot, though. All the big gals fawned over this color when it came out, but the fact is, no photo compares to the gorgeousness in real life. FeiFei became a fast favorite of mine because of its surprising versatility. With its steely, cadet blue base and shimmers of every color under the sun, it's a neutral while being anything but.

NARS Andy Warhol Collection

My general knowledge of Andy Warhol doesn't extend too far beyond the soup can painting, the 15 minutes of fame thing, and Jim Morrison and Nico's affair. Maybe that's part of the reason why I found NARS' holiday Andy Warhol collection so fascinating, because I know virtually nothing about the artist. The more I saw and the more I read, though, the more I realize the brilliance of the inspiration. I went conservative with my makeup choices and stuck with the Sephora exclusive Walk On the Wild Side gift set, which includes the inky violet-black polish called It. In addition, I picked up the most gorgeously saturated, true to NARS form glossy dark teal, Superstar.

...and finally,You Kids <3

I tried to figure out a way to cut and paste the GFC widget here so that could be my final picture, but either I'm not tech savvy enough or it violates some sort of law, lolol. Either is very possible. ;) But the point is, you ALL make this so darn much fun, you truly are the best of the best :) I love that you take the time to read what I have to say and I absolutely love your comments and our interactions, the relationships I've made, how supportive and honest and real you guys are.

So, there you have it! You probably know that I'm one of those who strictly prohibits links in comments, but if you've got a blog and are doing a Best Of post, gimme the link and I'll go check it out. And, as always, comments on how much you agree with my choices, or how completely and utterly off base you think I am, are most welcome.

Either way... thanks for reading. <3

Editing to add honorable mentions to a couple products. First is NARS Lhasa eyeshadow, which has easily become my go-to shadow for casual and dressup. I forgot it was a 2012 release, and besides, if I added it in now, this post might start to look like a NARS shill.Second is Duri Rejuvacote, the best basecoat in the world which IS amazing and has restored my confidence in my natural nails again. Not a 2012 release, but it is the year I discovered it. ;)

27 comments:

Ahhhh I love your selection - sigh, Cuprum was also my first ever RBL polish and turned me into a ReBeL ;-)!!! Nars Storm Bird is outstanding as is the Ballet Collection of Opi. I have posted the first part of my favorites today as well - I could not cut it down any further - LOL!!! Thanks for sharing with us xxx

The funny thing about Cuprum was that it wasn't my first choice. I liked IKB:2012 but waited too long to get it, and by that time, Cuprum had grown on me significantly, lol. Otherwise, I might have missed out.

Love, love, LOVE this post so very much! Watching you grow and become such a prolific blogger this year has been such a treat <3 The shout out really touched me too - you totally rock! I STILL don't own a NARS but it's on my resolution list BIG time. The Andy Warhol collection *swoon*.

Amazing choices Miss Liesl! I loved your BL Lippy post and admire your boldness in lip color choices. I can do red and sometimes a bright pink but I can't say I'm very bold. I need to step it up a notch next year ;) And thanks for sharing your love of Nars Storm Bird with your followers... I bought it, fell in love and went back for two more Nars polishes and I'm totally hooked!

OMG, Love all of your picks! Of course, Storm Bird:) And RBL Cuprum is BEAUTIFUL! Glad to hear you like the Garnier BB Cream better because I always think I should try the L'Oreal. I am just going to stick with the Garnier because I love it so much:) Thanks for being you and being my friend. I'm so glad I met you!

I missed this post! How?! I love this post, Liesl! Lots of polishes on here that I've never tried before...one of these days I will own at least 1, 2 or 3 RBL polishes. *swoon* Cumprum is so beautiful! I also love that beautiful blue NARS polish. I love lip glosses and would love to try those Butter London lippies. Great, great post! The only thing I own is Zoya Fei Fei, which I love!

;D I really ought to take better advantage of RBL's shipping and get more than one polish at a time, but then it becomes an awfully steep bill just for nail polish, lol... I've been wishing I'd have picked up Recycle during BiB4, though. And yes, FeiFei is a-MAZ-inggggg!

Oohh I can't believe I haven't tried my RBL Cuprum yet!!! It's sitting unloved on my shelf...And I totally got addicted to BB creams!! I tried out Boscia and it totally broke me out, but I gave Garnier a shot and I love it!! Wear it everyday!!

Please be respectful and refrain from using profanity or including links in your comments. Posts containing either will be deleted. If you have a blog you'd like me to check out, shoot me a message and your link by using my Contact Me form.